The present invention is related to color graphics for computers, and more particularly to the design and layout of a color palette that facilitates user selection of colors that have a consistent appearance across different platforms.
As technology has improved over the years, the once novel use of color in images and text has become prevalent in everyday situations. The use of color in documents, emails, web pages, etc. has enhanced the visual stimulation of information transferred between individuals and groups. Color use has grown partly due to the fact that many multimedia and image manipulation programs have provided users with the capability to employ colors, for example, in the design and creation of images. In creating these color images and/or text, a color palette is typically provided that enables users to select the colors they would like to employ. Typically, a color palette is comprised of primary colors and several shades formed by blends of the primary colors.
In recent years as the Internet has grown, the use of colors for images and text on the Internet has also expanded. The software programs that enable users to create web pages have become increasingly user friendly and therefore do not require a vast understanding of web-page development programming. As a result, these programs are widely used by consumers as well as professional designers. Many of these programs have a color palette with its own set of colors from which users may select. However, not all colors contained in a program""s color palette may be considered to be xe2x80x9csafexe2x80x9d for use in web pages. More particularly, some colors will not look the same as originally intended when viewing them on different computers or with different application programs. For example, the Macintosh(copyright) operating system distributed by Apple Computer, Inc. and the Windows(copyright) operating system distributed by Microsoft Corp. may cause the same document retrieved over the Internet to appear differently, because of the respective manners in which these two systems display certain colors. Colors which do not provide a consistent appearance across different platforms are considered to be xe2x80x9cnon web-safexe2x80x9d.
Many programs have a color palette in which web-safe colors and non web-safe colors are separated, to make it easier for users to distinguish between the two. However, for non-professionals, specific colors may be difficult to find, and achromatic colors, such as black, white and shades of gray, may also be difficult to find.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a color palette which facilitates the selection of web-safe colors, while also making it easy for users to select specific colors and/or achromatic colors.
The present invention provides methods and systems for providing a color palette which facilitates user selection of web-safe colors. In laying out the color palette, the extent of achromatic colors located within the color palette is determined. The achromatic colors are arranged as a separate group, for example in order of lightest to darkest. The non web-safe chromatic colors are also grouped together. From this grouping blends of the colors are created. Similarly, the web-safe chromatic colors are grouped together according to their respective hues, and within groups they are arranged by degree of saturation. Blends of the web-safe chromatic colors are created and grouped on the color palette according to this arrangement.
In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a 16xc3x9716 grid is used to provide a 256-color palette. The achromatic colors are arranged along one row or column of the grid e.g., from lightest in the upper left corner to the darkest in the lower left corner of the palette. Further, the non web-safe chromatic colors are arranged along two adjacent rows or columns at one edge of the grid, e.g. the top. The remaining positions are used for the web-safe chromatic colors. These colors are grouped into six areas each representing a 60xc2x0 section of the HSV color wheel. The chromatic colors are separated into primary and secondary colors, where the primary colors are the pure colors while the secondary colors are those formed from blends of the pure colors.
In another embodiment of the invention the achromatic colors are arranged on the first column so that the non web-safe and web-safe colors are separated from each other.